It is important to realize the impacts of the environmental or extrinsic factors to the quality of life and gene function such as gene expression, modification, stabilization and human behavior. Environmental or extrinsic factors are not merely limited to weather conditions, it includes disease, disease vectors, disease pathogens, food environment, mutagens, chemicals (natural or synthetic) and factors that affect the psychological and emotional cues within a given population at a given time. Therefore, using “Race” to characterize a population genomic makeup has no proven scientific basis for such classifications. Genetics played unfounded role in race classification during colonialism and slavery due to the fact that “race pioneers” believed in eugenics and that they are superior (genetically, intelligence, behavior etc) to other “races”, an assumption which has no scientific basis, and it is flat-out inaccurate. An Excerpt from an NIH article on gene indicated, “Research reveals that Homo sapiens is one continuously variable, inter-breeding species. Ongoing investigation of human genetic variation has even led biologists and physical anthropologists to rethink traditional notions of human racial groups. The amount of genetic variation between these traditional classifications actually falls below the level that taxonomists use to designate subspecies, the taxonomic category for other species that corresponds to the designation of race in Homo sapiens. This finding has caused some biologists to call the validity of race as a biological construct into serious question.” (NIH, n.d., p.1).

The basis of genetics and disease are rooted in the environment cues. The genetic nature is typically dependent on the environmental nurture. For instance, in the US, people of color has gone through waves of oppression from slavery to structural racism and segregation, which played a role in conditioning and alteration of behaviors such as stressful environment, which are known to be linked to many disease including heart disease. Furthermore, when the low socioeconomic neighborhood or Black residential communities are predominantly used as a dumping ground for toxic wastes it is not surprising that most of the disease associated to the toxic agents and mutagens will predominantly involve people of color and low socioeconomic status.

The exposure is toxic and cyclic in the sense that a family grows up in an oppressed and toxic environment, their offspring repeats the cycle for another life span and it continues. According to Moeller (2011), the linear non-threshold dose response curve model for carcinogenic agents indicated that any dose, regardless of how small is assumed to have an associated risk (p. 342). This model also implies to other disease exposures. Studies have shown that development of Parkinson’s disease is strongly linked to exposure to pesticides and other toxic agents (Cohen, 2012), so if minorities are often exposed to this chemical agents in their neighborhoods or at work, obviously there is synergistic link to the outcome of disease within the population than in any other population with limited exposure. Again, the disease outcome has no direct racial-gene deficiency link without accounting for the environmental or extrinsic factors. Hence, the etiology of disease deals with opportunistic and unfortunate repeated exposure to the extrinsic risk factors.

Here is an excerpt from Fish (2013) concerning sickle cell, “Many people argue as follows, “How can you say that the human species has no biological races, when blacks get sickle cell anemia and whites don’t?” (Actually, a few whites in the United States do get sickle cell anemia, but a much smaller percentage do than among blacks.) The mistaken reasoning goes as follows: skin color is inherited, and sickle cell disease is inherited. Therefore, sickle cell disease is caused by race. Therefore races exist.”

Mistakenly one may also consider Kenyans or Ethiopian marathon athletes as superior but will not look into the facts why they are very good in marathon. The fact is that their environmental cues to high altitude selected high affinity oxygen hemoglobin complex. These selections occurred hundreds or thousands of years under the high altitude living conditions. Therefore in an environment or population where there are high average levels of toxic exposures, harsh living conditions, oppressed environment etc there is an increase in related diseases or conditions. Thus, it should not be unusual that exposure-related health outcomes disproportionately burdens low income communities and people of color (Cohen, 2012). In the US, disproportionate number of people of color and low-income individuals reside in household classified as nonattainment areas. The linked between environmental link to the etiology of disease applied globally in other areas where there is a high prevalence of diseases or conditions, from African continent to Asia. Therefore, to change the misconception that race is related to gene, school systems and scientists should do a better job in correcting the error by maybe having anthropology and race studies as early as possible in school systems.

References

Cohen, L. (2012). Prevention is primary (2nd ed.). (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). San Francisco: Wiley

Moeller, D.  W. (2011). Environmental health (4th ed.). Harvard university press, Cambridge  Massachusetts

National Institute of Health. (n.d.).  Understanding human genetic variation.  Retrieved from   http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih1/genetic/guide/genetic_variation1.htm